Make me that man

I'm reminded of a prayer one of my mentors shared with me two years ago, "God make me into the man who people already see me to be." Hearing him say this deepened my respect for him. Obviously he doesn't feel that he is the man I see him to be, the humility he has is something I strive to live with.

I read last week in Proverbs a verse that reminded me so much of what I strive to be. "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man? A righteous man who walks in his integrity -- how blessed are his sons after him." Proverbs 20.6-7.

I want to be a trustworthy man, not a man who simply claims to be loyal, but a man who lives with integrity, who walks in righteousness, who sets an example with his actions.

I was watching Gladiator a few weeks ago and finally realized how much of a man Maximus is. The Emperor of Rome, the most powerful person in the world, has just killed his father in order to secure his position as emperor. Maximus knows that the former emperor was killed, despite the reports that he died of natural causes. In the scene the new emperor says to him, "Your emperor asks for your loyalty Maximus. Take my hand, I only offer it once." Maximus turns, stares him down, and without saying a word walks out.

As I watched that I was like, "God give me the guts to do that, more than that give me an opportunity to do something like that." I think that is the type of man who every man desires to be like, we might not all admit it, but deep down I think that is who we are as men.

I hear people say things about me, and I have the same response as my mentor, "God make me that man, the one they already see."